DAWES, JOHN JAMES
Name: John James Dawes
Rank/Branch: E7/US Army
Unit: Company B, 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry, 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne
Division
Date of Birth: 02 August 1932 (Scranton PA)
Home City of Record: Madera CA
Date of Loss: 05 May 1966
Country of Loss: South Vietnam/Over Water
Loss Coordinates: 123551N 1092745E
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category: 5
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: CH47
Refno: 0327
Other Personnel In Incident: (rest of crew rescued)
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 15 October 1990 from one or more
of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources,
correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews.
Updated by the P.O.W. NETWORK 1998.
REMARKS:
SYNOPSIS: SFC John J. Dawes was a passenger aboard a CH47 that was returning
to Nha Trang from a medical evacuation mission. The helicopter experienced a
power failure and crashed about 400 meters offshore.
The pilot of the aircraft was able to make a successful controlled crash
landing in the water, enabling all the crew with the exception of Doss to
escape the aircraft before it capsized. It is felt that Dawes went down with
the chopper.
The survivors were rescued about 45 minutes later from the water. An
extensive search of the area of rescue was conducted, believing it was the
proximity of the crash site as well. No sign was ever found of John Dawes.
John Dawes doubtless died the day his chopper went down, so he is listed
among the dead. Because his mortal remains were not located, he is also
listed among the missing. Other cases of the missing are not so clear. Many
were known to have been alive at the time they disappeared. Some were known
captives. Others reported by radio that their capture was imminent.
Since the end of the war, thousands of reports have been received that
indicate that hundreds of these Americans still languish in communist
prisons in Indochina. While John Dawes may not be one of them, someone's
brother, son or husband is. We must bring them home.